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Here are Today’s MadBits:

Major Bitcoin Exchange Bitstamp Goes Offline After Possible Hack -- All Bitstamp funds are currently frozen as they attempt to fix what sounds like a hot wallet hack. Most of Bitstamp’s funds are presumably safe in cold storage. This is why you don’t leave your money on the exchange. It’s why you don’t let other companies handle your private keys. If you want to keep your bitcoin, that is.

Update: Many are saying that more than 18,000 bitcoin or around $5 Million Dollars are missing from Bitstamp. Many are asking the question -- was this really a hot wallet? Why would Bitstamp keep so much money in a “hot wallet” -- really makes you wonder about all the other black boxes out there, off the blockchain, with questionable or no security. Wonder how much longer people will trust mysterious black boxes with their private keys.

AB 129 – CALIFORNIA LEGALLY APPROVES THE USE OF BITCOIN -- California. The golden state. Where the sunshine is always shining and it never gets cold. Okay, so today it’s a little cold. It’s winter after all, but the Governor just signed a bill that should heat everyone up. The Bill, AB129 amends a previous section of California code that could have rendered alternative currencies like Bitcoin illegal, but now Bitcoin will be treated like gift cards or virtual tokens. Way to go California!

Afraid of loss, ESPN makes fast cash on Bitcoin payment -- It turns out that when it comes to reading the tea leaves of the market, you can trust the sports leader -- ESPN. The Bristol based company dumped all $500,000 of the Bitcoins they received for the Bitcoin Bowl -- before the crash. Now if only they could predict sports scores as well as they could predict stock prices. We’d all be rich.

Meanwhile Bitcoin Prices are up from a low of $255 but still down with WinkDex reporting a last of $275 -- a high of $275 and a low of $262.